To Finish What He Started
by Kazeyama Tsume
Summary: ON HIATUS AU fic. Two thousand years have come and gone and now everyone has been reborn with some changes. But the threat of Orochimaru is still very much out there and the time will soon come to truly end the war. Het and Yaoi pairings.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. This fanfiction was made for fun not for profit. Ya sue... and I'll sic my schizophrenic muse on you. "They" like to bite....heeheehee...

Pairings: Hints of SasukexNaruto (for this part only), but other wise pairings are undecided at the moment.

"Speech"

_Thought _

**Demon's speaking**

* * *

Epilogue: 

Everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong. As Naruto vaulted through the tree tops he tried to comprehend what exactly had turned everything in the damned snake's favor. He had no idea where to start. _Should have studied more; paid attention more to Iruka-sensei and what he had to teach_. It was too late for that now. He needed to find Shikamaru and the others. He needed to tell Tsunade-baba and everyone else the truth about Itachi.

Naruto looked beside him to his left to see Itachi following closely a little behind. _Everything we've all heard about the Uchiha Massacre._ Naruto shook his head to clear his mind of what he'd just learned from the now proven innocent Uchiha. Gods, Sasuke was not going to believe this, but he needed to tell the raven-haired boy anyways. His koi needed to know the truth.

Naruto ran faster; he was running out of time.

"Hurry! It's going to fall any minute!" With his Byakugan activated, and ignoring his own advice, Neji ran at top speed to get to where his cousin was still lagging behind. The hospital had been the first target of attack by the Sound-nin. So many powerful shinobi had already been lost in the ten days that had past. Kurenai and Asuma –sensei had been the first two, along with whatever hospital staff was with them, to die having been in the heart of the explosion.

The sound-nin had used fire tags that, once triggered, would burn the paper and then burst into a roaring flame. There had been over a thousand of those tags in the entire room; the walls, ceiling, and floor of the small room hidden beneath them. No one could have survived.

_They are gone. They will be missed,_ Neji thought, rounding the corner and taking out two unsuspecting sound-nin as he did so. _Have to get to her...have to get to Hinata._ Neji didn't stop running even as the three sound Anbu came around the corner behind him; before he could take out the electric tags, a gift from Tenten on his seventeenth birthday, a wave of sand feel over the Anbu killing them instantly.

_Sand? Gaara!_ Looking away from the ocean of bloody sand he saw three blurs rush past him. One of them stopped, the girl with the four pigtails, and rushed back towards him.

"It's too late. Everything's lost," she said, breathing heavily finally getting the chance to slow down after all her running. She coughed; the smoke had finally gotten to this side of the hospital. He had been surprised that the hospital had not exploded. Instead, it was burning to the ground.

"What do you mean "everything is lost"?" he asked. This whole war had been one mad event after another.

"Everyone... the civilians and the academy children and teachers; they're dead. There was one with a scare across his nose. He was the first to die." Neji's eyes widened, his surprise deactivating his family's blood limit. _No... Dear gods not Iruka –sensei._ Even though Umino Iruka was only a chuunin –level academy teacher, Neji had always held a great respect for the scared man. To handle all those children, and Naruto, yet treating them with a kindness that any academy student needed to handle the pressure of what their parents expected of them, no child could hate him. Naruto would be pushed to insanity if he found out.

"How did you find this out?" asked Neji, already fearing the answer. He remembered the last resounding order from the Hokage to the famous silver-haired jounin to get to the academy students _now_. Her order to him was to get to the hospital and find Sakura and Hinata. He had already found the bloody cubed pieces that were left of the pink –haired kunochi, and now his cousin was just at the end of the hall.

"Hatake Kakashi told us. He was holding the teacher in his lap." Temari was clearly crying, her heart going out to the silver-haired jounin. And the one in green, with the freaky, fuzzy eyebrows... _Only Maito-san though_. Yes the self titled Green Beast of Konoha was gone. The girl with the buns that was part of their team had ended up with her limbs cut off and then raped. Her bloody, naked body had been pinned to the wall with large shuriken. The scene would give her nightmares even in the afterlife.

Neji's gaze traveled to the door at the end of hall. Wisps of fire came out from beneath the door. Even from this distance he recognized the room number. _Kiba and Shino; Hinata must have been with them. _Tears flowed freely from his eyes. _It's too late to save them now._

"But it's not too late to save whoever's still alive." Neji looked behind him to see the pale green eyes of Gaara of the Desert. "We need to find Naruto, now."

_Damn._ That was the only thing Shikamaru could think of as he and his team stood in the river of blood that had become the path into Konoha. Bodies, mostly leaf-nin, littered the red ground, the gates having long been destroyed. The rest of the wooden barrier burning to the ground; everything they ever cared for...gone.

Shikamaru had the sinking suspicion that there were no longer any civilians left alive. They would certainly be dead had they stayed. Next to him Ino was silently crying, a defiant look on her face. To his left was the jounin Genma having the unfortunate task of carrying an unconscious Choji.

"You've got to be shitting me. Where is everyone?" said Genma in obvious disbelief.

"Just about everyone's dead, if Orochimaru hasn't gotten to them already,"

"Hokage-sama!"

There, in fact, stood Tsunade with Shizune, Jiraiya, Naruto, and, surprisingly, Itachi on either side of her. All five of them had dirt and blood covering their clothes and skin. Shikamaru turned a questioning look to Naruto before moving on to keep an eye on Itachi.

"There is no need for the distrust, Shikamaru," stated Tsunade. "Itachi is on our side."

"You'll have to..."

"I will later," she said cutting him off. Her gaze narrowed at the sight of what was left. Shikamaru looked back and then up as about half a dozen people came their way.

"Is that..."

"Gaara!" yelled Naruto.

And indeed, it was Gaara, along with his siblings, Neji, Lee, and Kakashi. The group landed next to them. Before anyone could ask Kakashi answered, shaking his head.

"...No one is left alive....Hokage...sama." the masked man kept his head down. Tears began to slide down his now unmasked face as Naruto fell to his knees.

"Are you sure about that?"

"We looked everywhere before heading out to find you, Hokage-sama. We found no one," replied Neji.

Tsunade sighed, "Let's go then. We need to get out of here before Orochimaru or anyone else comes back. And we still need to find others that might still be alive or willing to help us."

"Rest up, gather troops, get equipment, and come up with a plan. Sounds good to me; I'm pretty sure I saw two teams of our Anbu chasing some sound-nin heading west," replied Genma. Looking at Naruto he said, "It's the best we can do right now, kid. If we try to attack Orochimaru as we are now we might as well kill ourselves and save the bastard the trouble." Everyone else nodded their heads. Reluctantly Naruto stood up, and without looking back at what was left of everything he loved, he ran back into the forest, the others behind him, leaving it all behind.

The dead would have to wait.

It took three days to gather up the remaining leaf ninja they had. Only two hundred and sixty-seven were found (mostly Anbu and jounin), and in the five days after they lost nine from severe injuries. To Neji's amazement, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru, and Shino were miraculously alive having left the hospital hours before the war even started. Sasuke was found a week later, drained of chakra and covered with blood.

The death toll was much too high for their taste but it made everyone happy that they still out numbered Orochimaru's troops five to one. Many survivors from other, smaller hidden villages who had been attacked by Orochimaru soon joined them: Grass, Rain, String, Moon, Waves (to Naruto's happiness it had been Inari who started this one), and Darkness. Their numbers continued to increase as Orochimaru continued his reign of bloodshed.

"Are they done yet?" asked an agitated Naruto, pacing.

"It's only been fifteen minutes. Of course they're not _done_!" yelled Ino.

The four of them were sitting outside the Tsuchikage's office. Sasuke continued to look out the window, his gaze traveling over all that was Iwagakure. They had arrived in Iwagakure over a month ago and they were still trying to persuade the Tsuchikage into helping them defeat Orochimaru.

His gaze traveled over to their ex-jounin teacher, Kakashi who had fallen asleep after going days without it. It continued to amaze everyone how handsome Kakashi was now that he no longer wore the mask that they had all been accustomed to. _In memory of Iruka-sensei I suppose_. Like everyone else the absence of everybody's favorite chuunin could be felt, and Naruto continued to cry himself to sleep; though he would deny it if anyone asked.

Farther on the bench tucked in the corner was his older brother, Itachi. The story of Itachi being controlled had been hard to believe at first, not wanting to give his brother a second chance of taking away everything he loved. But after several attacks by the remaining leaders of the Akatsuki he no longer had to worry. Itachi had proven time and again the he could be trusted. Deep down, Sasuke was happy that he could let go of the past, with no more burdens to carry on his shoulders.

"Sasuke,"

"..."

"Sasuke, is Naruto ok?"

He sighed, exasperated. All their friends, old and new, had been asking that same question. "Would you be if you knew that the one person you could really call family was gone forever?" He had said that a little too harshly, but it matched with his current mood. He finally sat up to look straight at Ino who was staring back with an angry look on her face. "I'm sorry. Just...don't ask me anymore. You know as well as I do that Naruto isn't ok. None of us have been given any time to mourn the dead, Ino. We all miss him, so drop it."

"Ok, okay. You don't have to bite my head off." Ino muttered this silently as she turned away, continuing to watch the door. Sighing in relief Sasuke turned back to look out the window. He didn't want to tell anyone the truth about Naruto. He was worried about the blond idiot and it was hurting him that no matter what he did couldn't stop the blond kitsune holder from hurting inside. Just last night he had dragged an unconscious Naruto out of a tub of blood colored water trying to stop the flow of the thick red liquid from lithe pale wrists. He knew about kyuubi but it concerned him that the wounds still had yet to heal, in fact they weren't healing at all.

_He's dying from the inside._ A lone tear fell from the corner of a sharingan eye.

"We need this, Tsuchikage-sama! The reason we were defeated by Orochimaru is because Orochimaru was from Konoha himself! He knew almost all of its secrets! He already had an advantage!" yelled Tsunade. _A month! A month of trying this shit and they still won't help! _She looked up at the Iwagakure's new Tsuchikage with contempt. _Insolent bastard!_

"And my answer, _again_, is no. I will not risk my ninja to fight a battle that has nothing to do with us,"

"You don't seem to understand, Tsuchikage-sama. What Hokage-sama has been saying all along is that this war is _everyone's_ problem," said the Hoshikage, his youthful face calm and steady. "If you hadn't noticed, Orochimaru didn't stop with the total annihilation of Konohagakure. You obviously haven't been listening to your ninja or anyone else in _your_ village. They're afraid, Tsuchikage-sama. And only a fool wouldn't fear Orochimaru."

The other kages nodded in agreement. Though young, the Hoshikage was an insightful young man and a fine ally. The Tsuchikage sat down his gaze unwavering. "Are you saying that I am a fool? My answer is still no. You...all of you, can take your ninja and leave!" he firmly stated.

"Then you will lose ninja either way."

Behind the Tsuchikage appeared a small number of jounin. Each of them took off their hitai-ates and placed them in front of their 'leader'. As they did so they joined the other kages.

"What is this!" yelled the Tsuchikage.

"We do not believe that what you are doing is right. We ninja of Iwagakure are not cowards," said the tallest of jounin. "The previous Tsuchikage would not have thought lightly of the current situation. If you will not help our allies then we are no longer _your_ ninja,"

"Wa-WHAT?"

"Have you not been watching? We are leaving; the people of this village are leaving. You no longer have any ninja."

They moved to stand behind the other kages and as one they left.

Itachi opened his eyes as footsteps sounded past him. The others stood up just as he did when the Hokage appeared.

"Hokage-sama, what's going on?" asked the blond kunochi, Ino.

"We are leaving. This new Tsuchikage is a coward. We wasted our time here; it is time to go," she said not looking back. As one all of them left the building walking into the now semi-deserted streets of Iwagakure. They walked a little farther till they were only a short ways away from the stone gates. There in front of them were all the ninja of Iwagakure each of them without a hitai-ate.

"The rest of you," said the Yorukage, turning around to look at them with sullen eyes. "Pack only what you need. We need not worry about the people of this village; they have gone already into safety. Orochimaru will only come so far here to fight us...and we ...we will go to meet him, to fight him...and to win!"

Itachi looked over to his younger brother and lover, Kakashi, and every other Konoha ninja that was left. They did not yell out with the others. Getting their hopes up would do nothing; their foe was powerful, crafty, and merciless. Every leaf-nin there had experienced battling against Orochimaru and his army.

_We are not strong, not like this. Our two most powerful weapons are still just mortal. One is dying and the other has been mad since he lost his innocence...since he lost his heart. Yet...the both still try._ He looked over to Gaara who was looking at Naruto's still slowly bleeding wrists. And then he looked over at his brother. He frowned. _You don't belong together, Sasuke. There needs to be someone else to take care of Naruto but he isn't you...and you know it. You've known since the two of you started going out. _Itachi's eyes shifted over to stare at Kakashi's back. The silver-haired ninja held a dirty, blood smeared hitai-ate. _Your light's anchor to life is gone; your love isn't enough to hold him here to you..._ He looked at his own hands turning them into fists. Itachi looked to the setting sun._ That person is already dead._

That day was the last day Itachi lived. Five hours later Orochimaru and his sound-nin attacked. The battle was long and bloody. Shikamaru and his team were the first to go having gone head long into a suicide attack of their own. Genma, Kakashi, and Lee went down the next day but not without taking every single rogue-nin Orochimaru had hired with them. Kankuro, Neji, Hinata, and Sakura fought against some of Orochimaru's best and took each of those "best" down with them. Neji managed to go on long enough to get rid of Kabuto leaving Orochimaru with little protection now that it was just him against the five that were left: Tsunade, Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and Temari. Itachi himself was killed by Orochimaru taking a desperate last attempt at destroying the damned snake. It was found out a little while later... three _days_ later to be exact, that the new "Tsuchikage" had been on Orochimaru's side all along.

**I've got one solution to your '_snake_' problem kit...but you might not like it.** Kyuubi laid still, her gaze following the circling path of Naruto's ponderings. She was on the verge of losing her patience with Naruto especially with his constantly trying to kill himself. She couldn't heal the wounds only keep them from getting infected and making sure that there wasn't a lot of blood loss. The wounds weren't just physical they existed on a spiritual scale as well and _those_ wounds were near impossible to heal because love was the only thing that could heal them, as cliché as it sounded it was true. The blonde's depression and withdrawal wasn't helping so the only thing she could think of was the one last resort that she really didn't want to _resort_ _to_.

"And what might that be?"

Kyuubi looked down at the kit that she had been sealed within and wished more than ever that she could somehow gain a body of her own to be the mother or big sister to the boy. It was the one thing he truly wanted. Not acceptance from his peers and teachers or anyone else in the village, that goal had been achieved a long time ago. But a family...a family was what he really needed.

**A release of chakra will do the trick. It will kill everyone within the range of the explosion but it _will_ kill Orochimaru. All that remains is to keep Orochimaru in one place long enough to do it. I believe Gaara and Shukaku can take care of that.**

"...it's not like any of us have anything else to live for," Naruto muttered. He stopped making a grove in the stone floor and looked up to her red eyes. She saw that he new he was dying...that they were dying. His eyes had long ago lost the light that drew everyone to him. This had to end now.

Turning his back he made his way towards the dark corridors. "I'll go and tell everyone then." Naruto turned his head enough to so that she saw the last embers of the blonde's fire die. Without another word Naruto was gone.

It was one thing to get Kyuubi's words out of his month and a completely different story to get everyone to listen to them. The only two people who trusted Kyuubi like he did were Gaara and Temari with obvious reasons. Tsunade wasn't so sure about the plan and Sasuke...well... Sasuke wasn't taking it very well.

"No, absolutely not! This is exactly what Orochimaru wants!"

"No Sasuke, I see Kyuubi's point. It shouldn't matter anymore whither we live or not, just as long as we can purge the world of Orochimaru."

"Ho....Hokage-sama."

Gaara watched as Sasuke sank into the lone armchair that was normally reserved for their Hokage. It seemed the ebony eyed one needed the most now. But this was the end...it had finally come to this last resort. Shukaku had given up trying to take control of Gaara and instead would hopefully be satisfied with having the blood of the snake.

He looked around him at the others and saw that they understood too. This war was going to finally end.

**You better hurry up! I want his _BLOOD_!**

Gaara closed his eyes and pushed the sand priest back into the recesses of his mind telling the demon he would get what he wanted soon enough....very soon.

"Than it's settled. We'll go through with this plan."

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Than tomorrow...we die."

It was still the early morning when the final battle began. On the tree tops stood the last defense against Orochimaru, leader of the Sound and one of the Legendary Three. He was not expecting his defeat to be so soon.

The battle didn't last very long and the remaining five put their plan into action. To make sure that Orochimaru kept from somehow breaking out of Gaara's sand, Tsunade, Sasuke, and Temari used their own way of keeping Orochimaru firmly on the ground. Tsunade took the northern point behind him as Sasuke took the southern point behind Naruto; Temari was in the east as Gaara stood in the west. Orochimaru finally saw why the blond did not fight. Naruto had been gathering all his chakra just as the other four were doing now.

"Ha, so you have finally submitted to your fate," hissed Orochimaru, wincing as sharp needles began to pierce into his skin. Snake eyes met ruby red eyes. He saw that Naruto was now gone leaving him with Kyuubi now in control. But as she spoke it sounded like the both speaking as one. He could hear her in his head invading his mind.

_**Yes, we have submitted to death but we won't go alone. We're taking you with us.**_

Orochimaru smirked. "I have nothing to fear. This isn't over yet." Orochimaru's eyes widened as he saw the souls of the dead rise up, each of them watching with satisfaction in their eyes as the five chakra began to skin him.

There was the Rookie Nine, the ones that had passed on. Their teachers including the chuunin that Naruto loved so much. The elders of Konoha and the entire Uchiha and Hyuuga clan stood together. All of Konoha was there watching. Then looking up he saw that Shinigami had appeared and with him stood the last four Hokages.

Feeling that his life was slipping away he smiled wickedly at the four dead Hokages. "Sarutobi-sensei... this...isn't over. Not yet." As he said this the world of the ninja ended with them.

* * *

**In the next installment of _To Finish What He Started_:**

**Teaser...**

_Hinata realized that she was the only one who remembered the past. It was almost too much to take as she let her cousin turned brother walk past her heading towards his first class of the day. Her old personality was beginning to rise up but she quickly enough pushed it back down. She had changed and for the better. Right now was not the time to reminisce; she needed to find Shino and Kiba. If what she had seen yesterday was true than they too remembered. Now it was only a matter of time..._

R/R! And I could really use a beta so if anyone wants to beta read my chapters than tell me in your review. Thank you!


	2. Only Us

**Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters (I wish I did but that one's not coming true anytime soon) or anything else that applies to the Naruto world. **

**Pairings:** ...at the moment...Kiba x Hinata...

"Speech"

_Thought_

'_Dream'_

/_Flashback-"memory"_/

* * *

**Only Us**:

She had always known that something was wrong with the relationship she and her older brother shared. Her own attitude scared her sometimes and it was happening more often lately. Hinata realized that she was the only one of the Rookie Nine that remembered the past. At least, in her mind she was. It was almost too much to take as her cousin turned brother walked past her heading towards his first class of the day. Her old personality began to rise up but she quickly pushed it back down. She had changed and for the best. Right now was not the time to reminisce; she needed to find Shino and Kiba. If what she had seen yesterday was true than they too remembered. Maybe, but now it was only a matter of time to find everyone else and get them to remember as well.

_It's only us than. I think Shino goes here but I haven't seen him._ She sighed and turned around the corner only to bump into someone.

"Hey, watch it!"

Hinata looked up a bit to see who'd she had bumped into and nearly dropped her books. The young man in front of her did drop his books. She really hadn't expected to bump into Kiba so soon, and he looked just like she remembered when they were younger. His dark brown hair was long and wild and even though his jaw was trying to hit the floor she knew he still had that wolfish grin. She raised an eyebrow, smirking. _He looks good in the uniform._

The school uniforms were a maroon vest over an egg white button-up dress shirt with a maroon and harvest gold striped tie. Though the dress code wasn't mandatory the girls and the guys (if they dared) had a choice of the usual girl uniforms which was the vest, shirt, and tie stated above with a maroon and harvest gold pleated flannel skirt. Or they could exchange the skirt to just wear the maroon pants with the harvest gold strips down the outside of the legs.

_He must have lost a bet or something yesterday._ Hinata was pretty sure she had seen her "husband" –as she still remembered him –wearing the girls' uniform the other day. She couldn't help but recall just how good his legs had looked or how his normally wild hair had somehow been tamed to give his face a more feminine look. At first she hadn't known it was actually him sense he had been far away with his back facing her. But he finally turned around as she had gotten closer so that she finally saw that it was him and not just some really pretty girl. Shino had been there as well.

_And speak of Devil..._ Hinata looked past Kiba –who was still in shock –to see the Aburame come up from behind. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered that she had about a half hour to spare but the rest of her mental functions had suddenly decided to go on a holiday. In the past she had always wanted to see what Shino looked like without the glasses and the coat on. Now it seemed she had gotten her wish. Shino's eyes were deep reddish brown and she could finally see his soft pink lips that, at the moment, were twitching as he tried to keep from smiling.

"It's good to see you, Hinata," he said. His voice to her ears flowed like silk. It was hypnotizing, no longer muffled by the collar; it captured her mind and left her in a state of blissful emptiness. No thoughts, no nothing. But there was an underlying sadness there, a slip of emotion, a longing for something. Looking in his eyes she knew it was not something from her that he needed. And somewhere in her flowing memories was the sound of a sweet laughter that she used to love.

Kiba shook his head. "He –Hinata, what...do you...um..."

Looking away from the Aburame she looked back at her love and grinned, eyes glittering with amusement, "I remember. The past, if that's what you mean," she said her gaze shifting back and forth.

"Yeah, that," replied Kiba, still trying to decide if he should keep his mouth opened or closed.

She frowned, but her eyes still smiled. "Kiba, really, if you don't stop imitating a fish I'm going to start believing you are a fish and dump you into the nearest fish tank."

"There's a small pond a half mile from my house if you want to drop him in there, Hinata," replied Shino, no longer able to hide his eyes and smile.

"That'll work too," she said, grinning wider.

Kiba smiled sadly, looking at Hinata with a sense of respect and even more love. "You're still beautiful, you know that, Hinata?"

She smiled, "My memories of you telling me that keep reminding me."

Shino looked back and forth between the two who had suddenly formed their own little world where it was just the two of them. He sighed, "Well, I'm certainly not going to stop you two from staring at each other all day, but just to let you know, we have five minutes left before the bell rings." Neither of them moved. Shino shrugged and started walking to his own class. "Not my fault you two wouldn't pay attention."

Lunch to say the least was interesting. For Shino it was interesting, watching as Kiba and Hinata caught up on old times after so long, remembering the past they could now remember and the past of their present life. For Kiba, Christmas had come early. All he really wanted was to pick up Hinata, carry her bridal-style all the way back to his house (running to his house more like it), and make love to her like there was no tomorrow. Hinata was just happy she had found her old teammates so fast.

"So it's only us three?" asked Kiba, after he and Hinata had stopped talking up themselves, looking around to make sure no one was trying to ease drop on them.

"It seems so," Shino said giving the dog-boy a sideways glance. "No one's listening."

"How would you know?"

Shino pulled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal three very small holes in his forearm. Kiba and Hinata knew them for what they really were but an outsider would have mistaken the bug holes for very dark birthmarks. "We are the only ones of the Rookie Nine that remember, that does not mean that others do not remember," he explained.

Hinata nodded. She knew this to be true as her younger sister Hanabi would often frown at the fact that Hinata had changed. Her father also remembered and seemed to be trying to make up for neglecting her in the past. But Neji did not remember and this confused her.

"We need to find our teachers, or better yet the Hokage," she said after five minutes of silence.

"I don't remember much of the end," said Kiba, still making sure no one was trying to listen in on them. Shino rolled his eyes. After a while Kiba continued, "But I do remember watching Naruto hold on to Orochimaru so that there was no way that snake could do anything to stop them."

Hinata's eyes widened. She exclaimed excitedly, "Shino!"

"What?"

"Do remember looking above them? Shinigami was there as were the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Hokage! Do you think it's possible that they are no longer trapped within him?"

"Hinata, it's really unlikely that they'd be able get out of Shinigami at all. Unless there was some special agreement than I very much doubt it," He said, frowning at this thought. He really did doubt it but... he shook his head. It was no use dwelling on the "what if".

"But they were outside of Shinigami," she said, not wanting to accept the other most likely answer. "Something must have happened to have them out of whatever hell they were in."

Shino thought it over. What Hinata was implying was clearly impossible. And as he had said before, unless there had been some sort of an agreement it shouldn't have happened. But he could remember it clearly as well. They had been there, but he hadn't really registered in his mind because it hadn't mattered then. He had been dead, why would it matter? _But it matters now, which is what's confusing me. But if what Hinata is saying is true than the other Hokages could have also been reincarnated._

"This is going to take some time, Hinata."

After school had let out early –for what reasons no one knew, but who was complaining? – Hinata and Neji had boarded the city bus which would take them closer to their sister's school; and closer to home. And now, standing outside the brick building, she waited. She hated waiting. Not that it mattered right now but she really wanted to get home. She was feeling impatient and she needed to do some training and start creating some medicines. Even in death the very last words that she had heard over the roar of chakra were from Orochimaru.

/_ "Sarutobi-sensei...this... isn't over. Not yet."_/

The words kept replaying themselves in her head. She didn't get it; it had to be over. Orochimaru was dead he couldn't have left anything behind. She narrowed her eyes in thought, _what did he do? Orochimaru did something to so confidently say such words. Maybe he was prepared to die? Scratch that, if it's not over it's not over. Just because he was a merciless bastard doesn't mean he would not come prepared._ She didn't like where her thoughts were headed.

"What are you thinking about, Hinata?"

To deep into her thought she hadn't heard the bell for class to end. Hinata started and looked down at her younger sister. "I was just thinking about the end; just the end," she said softly. Hanabi nodded in understanding. "I often do the same thing sometimes," she said. She looked off to the side, sighing. "Papa called on my cell phone to tell you that we're going to be in the dojo today. I think he senses that something is wrong."

Hinata nodded not really listening and looked past Hanabi, scanning the crowed for their older brother. "Probably went on without us," she muttered.

"Who went on with out you?"

Hinata spun around to find Neji behind her. She frowned, "Were you there the entire time, Neji?"

"No,"

She shook her head, "Well, let's get home. It's going to rain soon."

Neji and Hanabi shared a look and the stared up at the graying sky. "How it is that she always knows what the weather's going to be like?" asked Hanabi. Neji only shrugged and started walking home.

School, due to some unexplainable event, had been let out early. He, Shino, and Hinata had agreed to find out as much as they could about why they were remembering the past as well as training to gain their old skill. This part was already in progress –at least on his part –and it also meant telling his immediate family about the others who remembered.

Kiba had been the only one so far in his family who could do it easily without it straining himself. He was regaining his old Anbu skills as he slowly started mastering his old abilities again. It was annoying as hell to do so but something inside him –call it instinct if you will –was telling him that it was important. He was needed for something; he just didn't know what just yet.

For curiosity's sake he wished he knew if any of the other Rookie Nine remembered, let alone where they lived at the moment. He knew where Neji was, the Hyuuga was Hinata's older brother now, though how that had been managed was beyond him. But the others were a mystery. _Team Eight is back in action_! He smirked, now the only one they needed to find was their teacher, Yuuhi Kurenai.

Kiba pulled out his umbrella just as the first rain drops began their decent. Hinata had warned them that it was going to rain. _How does she do it?_ He shook his head smiling. He had good news to tell Akamaru.

Somewhere in another city on the west coast at the beach, a woman with black hair and red eyes wearing the red one-piece bathing suit of a lifeguard sneezed. She shook her head, "Must be my allergies."

"Tadaimasu,"

Not getting an answer, Shino closed the door behind him. He didn't bother with the lights as he headed towards his room. He didn't want anyone to see that someone was home. Damn salesmen were persistent bastards.

Shino's room was the only other master bedroom in the house, and as an only child it was all his. Placing his school bags on his bed, he began his usual routine of showering and changing into more comfortable clothes. He was happy that tomorrow was Saturday. It meant a weekend of training and writing down anything he thought important. It meant doing _something_ about those feelings that kept springing up.

He rubbed his eyes, sitting at his desk that faced the windows. He could see the garden from here.

/_ "Ohayo, Shino!"_

_He nodded to the blond. "Naruto,"_

_Naruto grinned and then went back to his gardening. He had thought he would find Naruto whining or muttering curses about having to do garden work but the blond seemed to be enjoying himself. As a little break from the C and B-rank missions, Naruto had taken on a simple D-rank mission of creating a garden in the Aburame clan's back yard. He recalled his mother saying it was for a change of scene...or something like that. _

_He continued to watch as Naruto planted the rest of the violet petunias. As far as he could see the flowers and other plant life hadn't been planted in any certain pattern. It seemed to be a chaotic scene of colors. He wasn't sure if his mother had given the blond any specific instructions or if she was allowing Naruto to give the garden his own twist. He was starting to fear for the other's life; the garden was his mother's "baby", if Naruto did anything wrong...well, he wasn't about to go there. _

"_What are you up to, Shino?"_

"_Nothing,"_

"_Oh, well, seeing as how you're not too busy could you grab the water pail?"_

_He looked around until he spotted the water pail near a box of white Hymenocallis. He raised an eyebrow, "Pink?" He could practically hear the gears in the whiskered shinobi's head turning. To bad they were a tad rusty._

"_It's pink, because it's the only one the store had left. And they were having a sale on gardening supplies."_

"_You could have just asked to use some of ours,"_

_Naruto glared at him, frowning. "Aren't you getting hot wearing that damn coat of yours?"_

"_No," he said, handing the pail over to the boy._

"_And I prefer to use my own stuff, that way it doesn't matter if something breaks," explained Naruto, watering the area he'd just finished. He finally noticed that at some point Naruto had taken off his shirt. The blonde's lightly tanned skin glistened with sweat and his hair seemed to shine even brighter with the light of the sun. He could see that years of pushing himself to become better than the last surviving Uchiha had done him some good. He was no longer skinny but was now lean with well-toned muscle. _

_He shook his head. "I came out here because okasan said you can take a break now. It's high noon."_

_Naruto pulled off his gloves and wiped the sweat from his face. "Ok, but there better be something to drink or I'm pulling out the water hoes."_/

Shino pushed away the memory. _That one again_; almost every day now that memory would come back, and he never understood why. It didn't matter if he was just looking at some simple potted plant or an intricately done garden that some old woman had spent time on, it was that same damn memory.

He looked over at the clock on his desk. He frowned, "That can't be right." _I only just got here. But this says that it's already been two – _He never finished that thought as another memory suddenly attacked him. Shutting his eyes he could see it all again, but this one wasn't like the others.

/_ "NARUTO!"_

_He could hear Sasuke yelling over the roar of enemy ninja. Fearing the worst, though he didn't show it, he took down the rest of his attackers and then headed in the direction of where he knew the other two to be._

_All around him, piercing screams of pain rang like bells echoed by others from all around. Bodies of the dead fell left and right, the enemy going at a comrade, not caring if he or she hacked their body to pieces to do so. He could almost see the grass and the leaves of the trees turning the color of blood. Not because blood was being spilt everywhere but because they were soaking it up, taking it into themselves. _

_The world is a battle field, he thought stabbing a chuunin with a sound headband in the stomach. Up ahead the fighting had become wilder as the second most powerful shinobi of Konoha –compared to Naruto, though he won't admit it –had gone into a wild frenzy, trying to get to his blonde haired teammate. _

_He didn't know what he was to expect but it certainly was not this. As he entered the clearing, he was pushed aside suddenly as red chains whipped around trying to get a hold of the enemy. There at the center he could see Naruto, eyes having become a demonic red as the power of Kyuubi flowed through him. Her anger and hunger for blood drowning his senses. _

_The screams were louder here, and he could hear the roar of Kyuubi above the others._

**MORE! GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR THE LIVING! **

_A head flew past him, part of it split down the middle with its eyes bulging. Looking left he saw that one of the chains had split itself to take hold of five sound-nin. He realized that the chains were made of chakra wrapping their bodies in pain as the chakra chains seared their flesh. The chains wrapped their entire bodies and crushed them slowly so that they could feel each bone break and hear every sickening crack and the wet split of skin as their broken bones pushed through to the outside only to be crushed and forced back in. He was almost glad that their screams were muffled and that he didn't have the Byakugan so that he couldn't see it happen._

"_SHINO, LOOK OUT!"_

_He saw Sasuke run towards him, the Uchiha too tired to go faster, but he was surrounded quickly by the chains. And out of no where they came as about ten or fifteen of the chains sped towards him. A few actually split away from the rest wrapping themselves around unsuspecting ninja. For some reason he couldn't move, too entranced by the movement of the chains. Would he feel the same burning fire that the enemy felt? Would his bones be broken to irreplaceable splitters? Would he scream in agony? These were his thoughts as he stood rooted in his place._

_Before he even got the chance to do anything the chains were already wrapping him in a cocoon of fire. The grass that it touched burst into flames and sizzled into ashes as a few of the chains dug themselves into the ground to wrap themselves under him. Not a second after did he notice the roar of an explosion as the world around him shook violently. _

_But as suddenly as it had happened the chains then began to unwrap itself. When they were gone he saw that the explosion had destroyed the area for miles; ten at best. Right in front him with their noses almost touching he looked into a pair of eyes, one ruby red and the other a sapphire blue._

_Two voices spoke as one, "Are you hurt?"_/

The chair he'd been sitting in toppled over as he stood gasping. Shino's grip on the edge of his desk tightened as the last echoes of agonizing screams moved back into the darkness. No longer able to hold himself up, his shaking legs collapsed beneath him. That one he had not expected. Up till now the memories had been serene, and happy.

Seeing that his dream/memory notebook had fallen to the floor he picked up and recounted the vision of blood he'd just had. Slowly calming himself he wrote down everything, his shaking hands forcing him to goslow. Finished he placed it back on his desk, and then stood up, steadying himself with the chair he'd picked back up.

Slowly, as not wanting to fall to the floor again, he walked to bed and laid himself down. Afraid of having the memory spring up on him, he let his mind wander. But as sleep finally came, he reluctantly closed his eyes. He would have no sweet dreams this night.

* * *

No teaser this time...mwahaha... well, anywho, R/R! 


	3. Friends, Rivals, and Lovers

**Disclaimer: Don't own any characters from Naruto... the court case on my ownership of Itachi should be going over well... his making good time in putting a lot of other people out of their misery. **

Pairings: ...sigh none in this chapter...just to let you know...

"...blah..."

_...blah..._

/_flashback –"memory"_/

* * *

**Friends, Teammates, and Lovers **

She gazed over the field of dry grass, watching her brother talk with his new friend. She had been surprised by this, the blond haired boy suddenly showing up at their door step asking if her youngest brother was home. No one at their school even wanted to talk to her little brother let alone wanting to be friends with him; to them, having to sit next to him in class was enough.

But to her surprise, this boy was like Gaara. He had no friends either. Many thought he was jinxed. Which wasn't true at all; he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time when something bad happened. She smiled when she heard her brother laugh muffled only by distance. _Not that I mind. Gaara needs a friend...those nightmares have been starting up again._

She frowned. She didn't like waking up every night from Gaara's screams. Her own nightmare was enough. _Blood on the wall... her body mutilated. Limbs gone...still can't get a good look at her face...don't think I want to really._ No, she didn't want to, but for some reason she felt she needed to. She shook her head, throwing her thoughts back so she wouldn't dwell on them. The nightmare was gruesome, horrible. There were other dreams but none as haunting as the one that continued to deprive her of a good night's sleep.

"Temari, you're not following them are you?"

Temari looked down from her horse to find her brother Kankuro looking up at her. She wrinkled her nose; his dark blue jeans and brown work boots were covered with dirt with the ever possibility of there being manure as well. Her brows knotted in a frown. "No, dear _brother_, I was _not_ following them. And even if I _was_, what makes you think I would tell _you_?"

"Never mind then, jeez. It was just a question."

Her frown grew. "And what are you doing here anyways? Shouldn't you be piling the manure in the back of the truck? I know it takes longer then twenty minutes. Or were _you_ trying to follow them?"

A pink tinge on his cheeks was her reward as Kankuro looked away crossing his arms over his chest. He seemed to be thinking of what to say next but finally threw his arms up in defeat. She grinned making sure he returned to his work as he walked away. Taking one more glace at the duo Temari nudged her chestnut mare into a trot.

The day had past with nothing much else happening. He really didn't care much because talking to his one and only friend was enough. And what was best of all was that Naruto was staying over. He had never had a friend and frankly, he could never figure out why no one would talk to him. It had always been one of those group things where everyone decides that they are against you and they'll do anything to keep the new kids away and to themselves.

He hated them.

"Hey, did you make this?"

Gaara looked over to where Naruto was holding up a wooden flute. "Yes, I made it," he said, hoping that Naruto wouldn't put it against him.

"Awesome! Do you play?"

He smiled.

Ino kept her ass planted in her seat, bored out of her mind and was having a hell of a lot of trouble trying to figure out the odd feeling she'd been having all day. It all had to do with the new girl: long pink hair, green eyes the color of emeralds and a style that screamed "punk". _An extremely smart girl with a bitch attitude, _"To smart for your own good," was starting to look like a compliment. But it was odd that she felt like she'd known the girl from somewhere before some time ago; a long, long, long time ago.

_Keep telling yourself that past lives are real and you'll be the next, first and only female president in the next lifetime!_ She thought to herself. The new girl, Sakura, had made a show of coming to school in something stylish. Which was the problem as they had to wear uniforms; however, she was the new girl and they really couldn't hold it against her.

The door opened, "Sit right here and don't say a thing. I'm going to speak with your parents."

Ino kept her ass planted in her seat, bored out of her mind, and was having a hell of time trying to ignore the pink haired new girl she had been contemplating earlier. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that what she was wearing was by no means extravagant but nor was it mundane. In fact, it looked exactly like the school...uniform? _Hold on a minute..._

"You like?"

She blinked, "what?"

"Do you like? I changed the uniform a bit. I mean, really, there's nothing in the school rule book that said we _couldn't_ do something to the uniform as long as it wasn't too different."

Her eyes fluttered, "You read the rule book?"

"Well, yeah!" exclaimed the new girl. "I'm not about to go breaking any rules when I just got here! But I had no idea the teachers would react so, well, I guess I just saw nothing wrong with my changes to the uniform I didn't think about what the teachers would do."

After a few moments of silence, "my name's Sakura."

"...Ino."

Lifting up his camera, he made sure to move slowly and silently. He didn't want to scare the crows. He pressed the button on the digital camera, the quiet beep click the only other noise. Neji smiled, _perfect_.

"**HAAAAAAAAA!**"

Neji jumped in surprise, spinning around so quickly that he nearly lost his balance.

"HA! I HAVE FOUND YOU, MY RIVAL!"

The muscles of Neji's left eye twitched, "rival?" He couldn't believe what was happening. This strange –perhaps insane –older teen had just jumped out of no where and had challenged him; sort of. What was more disturbing was his whole look. The other was wearing a one-piece green jumpsuit with orange leg-warmers on. He had a bowl-shaped haircut and the bushiest eyebrows he had ever seen! _I think I'm going to be sick..._

"Ah, who are you?"

The older boy blinked...and then he grinned. "HAHA, YOU KNOW WHO I AM ALREADY, KAKASHI! BUT SENSE YOU WANT TO PLAY IT THAT WAY..." he stopped and...

"Kakashi? Who's Kakashi? My name is Hyuuga Neji."

The other boy faltered, "whoa –what?"

"My name is Hyuuga Neji," he repeated.

"Neji?" the older boy leaned forward suddenly looking Neji right in the eye as if determining whither or not he was lying. Then, without warning, the other hugged him.

"IT IS YOU! I HAVE FOUND ONE OF MY OTHER STUDENTS...oh, I'm so happy..." and then he started crying into Neji's shirt.

Neji on the other hand was struggling to get out of the hold and get some air. "Can you..."

"**HAAAAAAA!**"

Both boys turned to see another boy about Neji's age bust out of the bushes. Stopping to do a few poses and the grin, the other boy started yelling much like the one before. What was worse was that they both looked exactly alike.

"HAHA, I HAVE FOUND YOU MY RIVAL, NE –eh, Gai-sensei?"

Neji was suddenly dropped to the ground, something rather large breaking into a few pieces beside him. The two of them looked vaguely familiar...

"Lee?"

"Gai-sensei?"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

And the two hugged. The scene was...a disturbing one. And then it clicked, the memories came pouring in nearly overwhelming his senses. Neji curled in on himself, the pain from the memories becoming real until it was all over, and his death playing in his mind ended it all. Neji looked up to find another person –a girl this time –holding her hand out to him. He took it and was lifted up from his place on the ground.

"Welcome back, Neji-kun,"

He smiled, shocking the other three. The past was in the past, for now and always. _Change is good. Naruto was right, we make our own destinies with our own actions. He would have made a good Hokage; he would have been one of the strongest, always._

"I'm glad to be back, Tenten."

Gaara woke up screaming, waking the other person in the room, and he couldn't stop. He gripped his head hard, trying to stop the screams from his recent nightmare. _Why can't they stop? Stop, stop, stop STOP, STOP, **STOP!**_ And they did as someone pulled him in against them, saying soothing nonsense that calmed him.

"It's ok, it'll be ok. It's just a nightmare, Gaara, it's over now."

_But they never stop, they never really go away._ "Naruto?" he whispered.

"Mmm?"

"Don't leave me,"

Naruto looked down at his old friend and ally trying to determine exactly what he meant by what he just said. He shook his head; _there was a reason why I always listened to my heart._ He looked down at the head of reddish-brown hair and kissed it. He held on just a little tighter.

"I'm not going anywhere, Gaara."

* * *

I'M STILL ALIVE! ALIVE I TELL YOU! ahemAnyways, I'm sorry (drops to her knees and bows low) for not updating sooner but school and downright laziness stopped me from doing it sooner. Also this chapter will be in two parts as banging my head against any hard object will not get rid the writer's block that I'm still suffering from. There for you will have to what longer for the second part.

It is two weeks till finals and, as I am a senior, will have a lot on my plate before I can get back to this fic as well as my other fanfic. Therefore, there won't be much of me for some time. Gomen nasai.


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